What Does Numbers 15:26 Mean in the King James?
And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The pardon reaches the whole community, including the resident stranger, because the miss is shared and unintentional.
THE MEANING
When a wrong happens without the community recognizing it, the whole community remains within reach of release. The stranger living among them shares that same pardon; its reach includes the person who sojourns among them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that an unrecognized wrong places a whole community beyond pardon, or that the stranger among them is excluded from its reach.
THE ROOT
בִּשְׁגָגָה
bishgagah
GROWS FROM
שגג
To err or stray unintentionally.
The word names a miss made without intent, not a wrong that never happened. English “ignorance” can hide the sense of straying carried by this root.
ALSO GROWS
shagag: To err or go astray unintentionally.
שָׁגַג
The verb shows the movement behind the community’s unwitting miss.
shegagah: An inadvertent error.
שְׁגָגָה
This noun also appears in Leviticus 4:13 for a whole congregation’s unintentional wrongdoing.
וְנִסְלַח
wenislaḥ
GROWS FROM
סלח
To pardon or remit an offense.
“forgiven” in this verse is wenislaḥ. The Hebrew verb places the community on the receiving end of pardon. Here release meets the wrong even though the people do not recognize it.
ALSO GROWS
salach: To forgive or pardon.
סָלַח
This verb names the act of pardon at the heart of the verse.
selichah: Forgiveness or pardon.
סְלִיחָה
The related noun makes visible the same root carried by the verse’s “forgiven.”
לַגֵּר
lager
GROWS FROM
גור
To sojourn or reside among others as an outsider.
The verse describes the ger as one who is residing among the people. The person marked as a stranger is within the community addressed by the pardon.
ALSO GROWS
ger: A stranger or resident outsider.
גֵּר
The resident outsider is explicitly included alongside the congregation.
gur: To sojourn or dwell as a resident outsider.
גּוּר
The verb points to the stranger’s lived presence among the people, not distance from them.
THE PATTERN
Pardon and belonging extend across the community, including the resident stranger.
And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.THE THREAD
And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;Leviticus uses the same שגג root in “through ignorance,” carrying the sense of an unintentional miss. Numbers then shows the reach of the response: pardon covers the whole congregation and the stranger living in its midst.
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